Ninja Turtle Mello Smello Stickers

Last weekend while at the flea market, I found several packs of unopened Ninja Turtle stickers made by Mello Smello. Upon finding them, a singular thought traveled through my head, and it was this: yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

The lady was selling the stickers for a quarter a pack. It was a sign. It was clear. God told Noah to build the ark, and he told me to buy the lady out, and preserve the stickers forever on the Internet.

I’ve just been finding really awesome stuff at the flea market. Next weekend, maybe I’ll find the The Ark of the Covenant. The man who sells the six-gallon cans of kidney beans may have it for sale. The cans are there every week, and they’re really starting to freak me out. They’re rusted and corroding from sitting in the sun, and the metal is now a part of the beans. It’s just a detail I needed to get off my chest.

Alright. STICKERS.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mello Smello was known for their scratch-and-sniff stickers. They were the Cadillacs of scratch-and-sniff stickers, and the look and style of the stickers was immediately recognizable. And of course there was the smell, which you fervently scratched and then held a quarter of an inch under your nose to breathe in the uncannily-reproduced scent of buttered popcorn or a root beer float.

But with these Mello Smello Ninja Turtle stickers, the concept of scratch-and-sniff is almost an afterthought. Some of the stickers included are scratch-and-sniff pizza, but the rest of them do not smell. Which is too bad, because I have always wondered what Krang smelled like. Perhaps like a corroded can of kidney beans.

I love how the pizza is depicted here in the stickers, rubbery and gooey. I know just what it smells like under the cellophane, too, because I remember these same stickers as a child. I used to smell the pizza stickers over and over. Whenever I needed something to do, I could pull out the doodle pad where I stuck all my stickers in neat little rows, and smell away to my heart’s content. Over time, the pizza area got fingernailed and faded, but I could always manage to scratch out a whiff.

I decided to find out if the pizza sticker still smelled. These stickers are twenty years old, but they had been well-preserved. I unwrapped the cellophane and held the sheet of stickers in my hand. The backing paper was firm and dry, not flimsy and glossy like modern sticker sheets. I scratched–and well, sniffed. Incredibly, the pizza was still odorous–musty and peppery, with a lot of oregano–the distinctive smell of pizza stickers, the same smell I have committed to memory.

For awhile today I sat at my desk and smelled the sticker at random intervals. I may do it again tomorrow, and the day after that. The Pizza Sticker That Smells is back in my life, and it is something to do.

Also, I love the sticker of the Ninja Turtles on the surfboard, which somehow combines all of my favorite things–surfing, pizza, Ninja Turtles, and stickers that smell like oregano. We’ll call that sticker the God Sticker. It is mine to privately worship.

Well as I said, I bought the lady out of every last pack of TMNT stickers she had been hoarding. Let’s take a look at my other awesome stickers.

Another variation of stickers were these metallic/reflective ones. Nice showing of Rocksteady and Bebop here. Also Donatello with an old man face in the first set.

The next two sets are Glow-in-the-Dark variety. I’m wondering about this first sticker of the Turtles looking woozy while playing with a rope. What the hell is going on?

The last set is awesome because it has Ace Duck and Casey Jones. I’m pretty sure that teeny tiny Ace Duck sticker is awesome enough to warrant its own cult following.

Okay now the Giveaway part. Since I have so many of these stickers, I thought I’d have the First Ever Official Surfing Pizza Contest. I have five extra sealed packs of these stickers, two of which contain the Ace Duck sticker, and the other three are the metallic ones.

If you want to be one of five winners, in which I will mail you a pack of these stickers for free, leave a comment below. In the comment, pick a number between 1 and 100. The five people who pick the closest to the number I’m thinking of win. Also, include in your comment how you found my blog, just because I’m curious. The contest ends July 14.

If you pick the exact number, I will include some extra mystery grand prize that might be total crap.

UPDATE – The contest has ended – congrats to the winners who picked closest to the number 58 (without going over; standard Price is Right rules.) Brickbats, TsarinaDott, Chigirl, SL, bnice2me.

66 responses to “Ninja Turtle Mello Smello Stickers”

Be still my nostalgic beating heart….my guess is 85. I don’t remember how I found your blog, because I’ve been reading for quite some time now, but I thank my lucky stars every night I did. I’m not sucking up, I promise….but seriously.

Okay – my number is 88. I found your site from someone else who linked to you – unfortunately it was so long ago, I honestly don’t remember. However, if I DO win – I live in Honduras – you willing to ship them my way?!

Keep up the great work Pizza, this is one of my favorite sites. Not sure how I found it, but I am assuming it involved a google search for pizza and useless crap. Not to say that your site is useless crap, but… oh nevermind.

Came across your site while looking for toys of the eighties. Great find those stickers I remeber them. There also were puffy Ninja Turtle stickers white background with a turtles face printed on the front. they had some type of material that made them puffy up it was on the inside.But anyway my number is 84

Oooh, scratch and sniff and Ninja Turtles? It’s the new chocolate and peanut butter! I love the one on the last sheet where they’re busting out of the sticker paper– or whatever you put the sticker on. Awesome.

I WISH I could remember what I googled when I found you– whatever it was, your post about the gigantic troll head came up. I could not stop giggling, reading that and looking at that photo. First time I literally LOL’d at something on the internet. I went & read all your back posts & have been following ever since. I love this blog, I feel like we shared a childhood.

First off…Congratulations to you and ‘the girlfriend’ on your engagement! “My better slice”…sweet!
Okay,I found you via a Google search on Pennsylvania Dutch Eggnog Hangovers two New Year’s Eve ago and I’ve been reading and laughing ever since.
I choose 6

58 please.
I had to look at the posts history to remember how I found you. I first read your
‘…breaking-down-2009s-stocking-stuffers/’ after surfing around for gold coins or chocolate coins because I sent my nephews fake rectangular mini ONE DOLLAR tinfoil-wrapped chocolate pieces last year.

I just noticed everyone is recalling how they first found The Surfing Pizza…so, I guess I’ll chime in.
I clicked The Pizza’s link over at fellow WordPress blogger and X-E alumni, Bill’s Veggiemacabre. I instantly started from the first post to the latest, and that was less than a month ago.

Thanks, I’m bragging to my boyfriend next – all those Hot Wheels he has in the other room never did anything for him! Turtles!!!
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, woooooo, those guys were the coolest.
Whew. I’m a winner – hee heee.
Thank you.